Gui d'Ussel
Encyclopedia
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1195–1209) was a turn-of-the-thirteenth-century troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
of the Limousin
Limousin (province)
Limousin is one of the traditional provinces of France around the city of Limoges. Limousin lies in the foothills of the western edge of the Massif Central, with cold weather in the winter...
. Twenty of his poems survive: eight cansos
Canso (song)
The canso is a song style used by the troubadours. It consists of three parts. The first stanza is the exordium, where the composer explains his purpose. The main body of the song occurs in the following stanzas, and usually draw out a variety of relationships with the exordium. The canso can end...
, two pastorela
Pastorela
The pastorela was an Occitan lyric genre used by the troubadours. It gave rise to the Old French pastourelle. The central topic was always meeting of a knight with a shepherdess, which may lead to any of a number of possible conclusions. They are usually humorous pieces...
s, two coblas
Cobla (Occitan literary term)
A cobla is a stanza in Occitan lyric poetry, the art form of the troubadours. Though not usually standalone work in itself, in many instances a cobla or two is all that survives of what was once a complete poem. Each cobla of a song was usually played to the same melody, but a few songs were...
, and eight tenso
Tenso
A tenso is a style of Occitan song favoured by the troubadours. It takes the form of a debate in which each voice defends a position on a topic relating to love or ethics. Closely related genres include the partimen and the cobla exchange...
s, several with his relatives and including a partimen
Partimen
The partimen is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry composed between two troubadours, a subgenre of the tenso or cobla exchange in which one poet presents a dilemma in the form of a question and the two debate the answer, each taking up a different side. It was especially popular in poetic contests....
with Maria de Ventadorn
Maria de Ventadorn
Maria de Ventadorn was a patron of troubadour poetry at the end of the 12th century.Maria was one of las tres de Torena, "the three of Turenne", the three daughters of viscount Raymond II of Turenne and of Elise de Séverac. These three, according to Bertran de Born, possessed tota beltat terrena,...
. Four of his cansos melodies remain.
According to his vida
Vida (Occitan literary form)
Vida is the usual term for a brief prose biography, written in Old Occitan, of a troubadour or trobairitz.The word vida means "life" in Occitan languages. In the chansonniers, the manuscript collections of medieval troubadour poetry, the works of a particular author are often accompanied by a...
, Gui was the youngest of three sons of a wealthy noble family of the castle Ussel-sur-Sarzonne, northeast of Ventadorn. He and his brothers Ebles and Peire
Peire d'Ussel
Peire d'Ussel or d'Uisel was a Limousin troubadour, the middle of three brothers, castellans of the castle of Ussel-sur-Sarzonne, northeast of Ventadorn. His elder brother was Eble and his younger Gui, and he also had a cousin named Elias; all four were troubadours.According to Gui's vida, Peire...
, as well as his cousin Elias
Elias d'Ussel
Elias or Elyas d'Ussel or d'Uisel was a Limousin troubadour, the cousin of the three brothers Eble, Peire, and Gui, and co-castellan with them of the castle of Ussel-sur-Sarzonne, northeast of Ventadorn....
, are all reputed troubadours and castellan
Castellan
A castellan was the governor or captain of a castle. The word stems from the Latin Castellanus, derived from castellum "castle". Also known as a constable.-Duties:...
s of Ussel according to the author of the vida, who makes Gui himself a canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Montferrand
Montferrand
Montferrand may refer to the following places in France:* Montferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, a former town, now part of Clermont-Ferrand* Montferrand, Aude, a commune in the department of Aude* Montferrand-du-Périgord, a commune in the department of Dordogne...
and Brioude
Brioude
Brioude is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne region in south-central France. It lies on the banks of the River Allier, a tributary of the Loire.-History:...
in the diocese of Clermont. Among his relatives Gui was known for his cansos. The only confirmation of Gui's family from outside his vida is a reference to the brothers Guido and Eblo Usseli donating land to the abbey of Bonaigue. Gui's biographer believed him to have been in love with Malgarita, wife of Rainaut VI, viscount of Aubusson
Aubusson, Creuse
Aubusson is a commune in the Creuse department in the Limousin region in central France.-Geography:...
. He supposedly later fell in love with Guillemette de Comborn, wife of Dalfi d'Alvernha, and composed many songs about her. Gui spent almost his entire life in the Limousin and Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
, rarely travelling abroad.
Gui addresses several of his songs to Maria de Ventadorn (including the partimen) and makes reference to Peter II of Aragon
Peter II of Aragon
Peter II the Catholic was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213.He was the son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile...
in one which survives with a melody. The reference to Peter's queen in the song's razo
Razo
Raso is an islet of 8 square kilometers in the Barlavento archipelago of Cape Verde. Raso is flanked by the smaller Branco islet on the west and by São Nicolau island on its eastern side. Raso is uninhabited and is now the only home of the Raso Lark. The Brown Booby and Red-billed Tropicbird visit...
puts the date of its composition in 1204 or later, after Peter's marriage to Marie of Montpellier
Marie of Montpellier
Marie of Montpellier , was by birth heiress and later Sovereign Lady of Montpellier and by her three marriages Viscountess of Marseille, Countess of Comminges and Queen of Aragon....
. His vida records how Gui obeyed a papal injunction from Pierre de Castelnau
Pierre de Castelnau
Pierre de Castelnau , French ecclesiastic, was born in the diocese of Montpellier.In 1199 he was archdeacon of Maguelonne, and was appointed by Pope Innocent III as one of the legates for the suppression of the Cathar heresy in Languedoc.In 1202, when a monk in the Cistercian abbey of Fontfroide,...
to cease composing in 1209 and the fact that none of his poems can be reliably assigned later than that date and none mention the Albigensian Crusade
Albigensian Crusade
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc...
, it is probable that Gui did indeed obey papal orders and cease writing.
Gui's poetry to some measure imitates that of his contemporary Cadenet
Cadenet (troubadour)
Cadenet was a Provençal troubadour who lived and wrote at the court of Raymond VI of Toulouse and eventually made a reputation in Spain. Of his twenty-five surviving songs, twenty-one are cansos, with one alba, one partimen, one pastorela, and one religious piece represented...
, whom he mentions in one piece. His melodies have something in common with those of Gaucelm Faidit
Gaucelm Faidit
Gaucelm Faidit was a troubadour, born in Uzerche, in the Limousin, from a family of knights in service of the count of Turenne. He travelled widely in France, Spain, and Hungary...
, whom he may have met in Ventadorn. His melodies all stay within a minor tenth interval and use numerous thirds and traids, but never repeating phrases in the AAB form. His music is characterised by motivic variety and he has been praised for his "subtle and creative compositional faculty". The later troubadour Daude de Pradas
Daude de Pradas
Daude, Deude, Daurde, or Daudé de Pradas was a troubadour from Prades-Salars in the Rouergue not far from Rodez. He lived to an old age and left behind seventeen to nineteen cansos, including twelve on courtly love, three about sexual conquest, one tenso, one planh , and a religious song...
referred to Gui in a tenso and his melody has gives some indication that it may have been influenced by those of Gui.
Gui's works were reproduced in the anthology of Ferrarino Trogni da Ferrara
Ferrarino Trogni da Ferrara
Ferrari da Ferrara, fully Ferrarino Trogni da Ferrara, was a troubadour of Ferrara in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. He was a composer, anthologist, and possibly autobiographer...
.